Staff Biographies

Paula Kaufman

Paula Kaufman joined the Center as its Interim Director in September 2014. She was appointed
University Librarian in 1999. In 2008 she was invested as the Juanita J. and Robert E.
Simpson Dean of Libraries and University Librarian and served in that position until August 2013.
During the 2005-2006 academic year, she was Acting Chief Information Officer. Prior to joining
Illinois, Kaufman served as dean of libraries at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (1988-99)
and in a variety of positions at Columbia University including Acting Vice President for
Information Services and University Librarian, from 1979 to 1988. She also worked as a librarian at
Yale University and McKinsey and Company, and was a co-founder and partner in Information for
Business, New York City.

Kaufman received her A.B. in Economics from Smith College, her M.S. in Library Science from
Columbia University, and an M.B.A. in management from the University of New Haven.

She has written and presented in venues around the world on topics of Return on Investment and
Library Value, leadership, new service models, risk taking, and privacy, among others. Kaufman’s
record of service to the profession includes serving as a member of the Association of Research
Libraries (ARL) Board of Directors from 1997-2003, including a term as president from 2001-02; a
founding board member of the Consortium of Academic Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) from 2005-2013; a
member of the Center for Research Libraries Board of Directors from 1994-2000, including a term as
chair in 1996; and as a member of the HATHI Trust executive committee from 2008 to 2012. Currently,
she serves on the boards of the Digital Preservation Network and the Champaign Public Library and
on the Advisory Board of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. In 1987 Kaufman
testified at hearings about the FBI’s “Library Awareness Program.”

Kaufman has been honored with the Illinois Library Association
Illinois Academic Librarian of the Year Award (2011), the Hugh C. Atkinson Award (2010), which is
jointly sponsored by ACRL/ALCTS/LLAMA/LITA, the ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year award
(2012), and the Robert Downs Intellectual Freedom Award (1989).

Susan Schnuer

Susan Schnuer has worked at the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs for the past
twenty-one years and is current the Associate Director. The Mortenson Center is a unique program
located at the University of Illinois in the United States. The Center offers intensive
professional development programs tailored to meet the needs of librarians around the world.
Schnuer has been involved in the development and implementation of professional development
programs for the over 1200 librarians from more than 90 countries. Schnuer has extensive experience
with leadership programs.

She has worked on country specific professional development projects in Bhutan, Colombia, Costa
Rica, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Myanmar, Nepal,
Nicaragua, Nigeria, People’s Republic of China, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Uganda, and
Vietnam. Schnuer’s focus has been to develop and deliver high quality professional development
programs that meet the specific needs of a library community.

Schnuer received her B.A. from Tufts University, her M. Ed. From Boston College, and her M.S. in
Library Science from the University of Illinois.

Schnuer has been invited to present at meetings and conferences world-wide on a full range of
library-related topics. She has been actively involved for many years with the International
Relations Round Table of the American Library Association (ALA) and has participated fully in
activities of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).

She began her career as a bilingual education teacher in the Boston area then worked as a
trainer for a number of years at the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education in Washington
D.C.

Schnuer is a Notable Member of the ALA’s International Relations Round Table. In 2013, Schnuer
was honored to be awarded John Ames Humphry/OCLC/Forest Press Award for International Librarianship
by the International Relations Committee of the American Library Association. She was also
presented with the Honorary Lifetime Member award from the Library and Information Association of
South Africa.